System and method for enabling dynamic multi-modal communication

ABSTRACT

A system and method that includes receiving a messaging request that includes communication intent parameters and a set of communication destinations, wherein the messaging request is authenticated as a request of a first account; dynamically transforming messages according to individual communication destinations, wherein for the set of communication destinations: selecting a communication mode according to communication intent parameters, transforming content of the messaging request, and transmitting transformed content to a destination endpoint in the selected communication mode.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/489,371, filed 17 Sep. 2014, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/902,985, filed on 12 Nov. 2013,which are both incorporated in their entirety by this reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to the telecommunication field, andmore specifically to a new and useful system and method for enablingdynamic multi-modal communication in the telecommunication field.

BACKGROUND

Mobile internet has brought about a wide variety of modes ofcommunication. Mobile phone devices are capable of telephonycommunication such as SMS, MMS, and PSTN voice calls, as well as IPbased communication such as client application messaging and VoIP.Despite the numerous modes of communication, communication applicationsare limited to the initial mode of established communication.Additionally, those wishing to communicate with a larger number ofdevices encounter feasibility issues because of the complications ofdealing with such a diverse set of devices and communication options.Thus, there is a need in the telecommunication field to create a new anduseful system and method for enabling dynamic multi-modal communication.This invention provides such a new and useful system and method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is schematic representation of a system of a first preferredembodiment;

FIG. 2 is schematic representation of a system of a first preferredembodiment applied to a communication campaign;

FIGS. 3-4 are schematic representations of variations of the systemincluding a resource access tracking system;

FIG. 5 is a schematic representation of a variation of the systemincluding an origin transmission balance system;

FIG. 6 is a communication flow diagram of a method sending anasynchronous message;

FIG. 7 is a communication flow diagram of a method establishing asynchronous communication session;

FIG. 8 is a communication flow diagram of a variation of applying themethod iteratively to a set of destination entities;

FIG. 9 is a communication flow diagram of a variation of balancingtransmissions across a set of origin identifiers;

FIG. 10 is a communication flow diagram of a variation of balancingtransmissions across a set of origin identifiers and allocating originendpoints;

FIG. 11 is a communication flow diagram of a method for responding toresponses from a destination;

FIG. 12 is a communication flow diagram of a method for capturingcommunication interactions through trackable links;

FIG. 13 is a communication flow diagram of a method translating betweentwo communication modes;

FIGS. 14 and 15 are flow diagrams of a variation using a campaignresource;

FIG. 16 is a graphical representation of origin endpoints selectedaccording to regional association; and

FIG. 17 is a flowchart representation of a method variation of capturingcommunication interactions through trackable links.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following description of preferred embodiments of the invention isnot intended to limit the invention to these preferred embodiments, butrather to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use thisinvention.

1. System for Enabling Dynamic Multi-Modal Communication

As shown in FIG. 1, a system for enabling multi-modal communication of apreferred embodiment can include a communication system 110 with aplurality of routing options 112 a content conversion engine 114 and arouting system 120 that includes a plurality of routing option profiles122. The system functions to enable transparent multi-modalcommunication through a communication platform. The multi-modalcommunication is preferably transparent to users of the system in thatan entity requesting communication expresses communication intent, andthe system appropriately establishes the communication with one or moredesired entities using a suitable transport protocol. Additionally, thesystem can manage full-duplex multi-modal communication—message andcommunication session responses can be similarly transparently managedby the system.

Additionally, the system can be applied to facilitate communicationcampaigns wherein the system is used for transforming a communicationrequest specifying multiple destinations into multiple customizedcommunications for a set of destinations as shown in FIG. 2. The systemmay additionally include a resource access tracking system 130 and/or anorigin transmission balance system 140 as shown in FIGS. 3-5. When thesystem is applied to communication campaigns, the system functions tosimplify the process of sending a communication or a set ofcommunications to a set of different target entities. Severalcomplicating aspects of communicating with multiple destinations aresimplified so that an end user (e.g., an application or a developeraccount) can simply express communication intent. The communicationintent can include message contents and a set of destinations. Thecommunication intent is processed such that each destination istransmitted in an appropriate manner. Aspects that may complicate acampaign can include selecting an appropriate communication mode (e.g.,SMS, MMS, IP messaging, voice, etc.), balancing transmissions acrossorigin endpoints, geographical/regional customization, time windowrestrictions for when the communication is relevant (i.e., TTL limits ofa communication), tracking receipt or interaction with a communication,and/or other aspects. The system may be applied to address theseproblems.

The system is preferably integrated with a multitenant communicationplatform that provides communication services to developer applicationsand services. The system is preferably implemented in combination with atelephony platform such as the one described in patent application Ser.No. 12/417,630 filed 2 Apr. 2009, entitled “System and Method forProcessing Telephony Sessions”, which is hereby incorporated in itsentirety by this reference. The telephony platform is preferably amultitenant telephony platform that allows multiple accounts toconfigure telephony applications for use on the platform. The telephonyplatform can be designed for one or more mediums of communication. Thetelephony platform can additionally be a cloud hosted platform as aservice system or an on-premise solution. The telephony platform can bea server, a server cluster, a collection of components on a distributedcomputing system, or any suitable network accessible computinginfrastructure. The system may alternatively be used in combination witha text or multi-media based messaging system, a video or voice chatsystem, a screen-sharing system, and/or any suitable communicationplatform.

The communication system 110 of a preferred embodiment functions toreceive communication requests and establish communications as regulatedby input of the routing system 120 and the communication cost service130. The communication service 110 can comprise of one or more servicesthat establish communication through various channels and over varyingprotocols of the plurality of routing options 112.

The communication system 110 preferably includes a communication requestinput to receive communication requests. A communication requestpreferably specifies at least one communication destination. Thecommunication destination can be a communication endpoint such as atelephone number, a short code phone number, a SIP address, acommunication account identifier, and/or any suitable communicationendpoint. The communication destination may alternatively be ahigher-level destination entity identifier, wherein a singlecommunication entity identifier can be associated with multiplecommunication endpoints. For example, a user ID may be associated with atelephone communication endpoint and an IP communication applicationendpoint. The communication request may include a set of communicationdestinations.

In one variation, the communication request additionally will include anorigin identifier or origin identifiers. In a first variation, theorigin identifier will be the communication endpoint that will beconnected or that will be indicated as the sender. The origin endpointcan be some variety of communication endpoints as described above. Anorigin identifier is preferably managed by the telephony platform, whichincludes terminating communication to that communication endpoint andpreferably making outgoing communications from that communicationendpoint. An account or any suitable platform entity scope can have anallocated origin identifier. Herein accounts are described as thepreferred assignee of an allocated communication endpoint that can beused as an origin endpoint, but communication endpoints can be allocatedto any suitable entity. In one variation, each account will have atleast one communication endpoint to make or receive communications. Inanother variation, an account may use a pool of shared communicationendpoints shared between multiple accounts. In some cases, proxycommunication endpoints can be established if the endpoints of the legsof the communication do not use compatible forms of endpoints. Thecommunication endpoint of the origin can be the same type or a differenttype of communication endpoint as the communication destination. Theorigin identifier can be explicitly included in the communicationrequest or the origin identifier can be associated with an accountassociated with the communication request.

When multiple communication destinations are specified, the set oforigin identifiers are preferably used to balance transmission of theset of communications. For example, when sending SMS messages or MMSmessages carriers will throttle or prevent sending a certain number ofmessages in a given period and also the rate at which those messages aresent. The system can schedule and distribute message transmission acrossthe origin identifiers. In another variation, the origin identifiers arenot expressed in which case the origin for a communication may be set toa default origin identifier. Alternatively, the full set of originidentifiers for an account may be used. In yet another variation, atransmission time window may be specified which could signal atime-to-live constraint. Transmission is preferably balanced across theorigin identifiers with scheduling to satisfy the time windowconstraint. Additionally, origin identifiers may be dynamicallyallocated to an account to satisfy transmitting the set ofcommunications in the time window.

A communication medium may be implicit for the communication system suchas in the situation where only one medium is available, but thecommunication medium may alternatively be specified in the request. Themedium can specify a general form of the communication, such as voice,video, text, synchronous, and/or asynchronous. The medium canalternatively specify particular protocols of communication such as SMS,MMS, PSTN, SIP, and the like. In appropriate communication requests,frequently asynchronous communication requests, the content of thecommunication may be included in the request. For example, the text foran SMS message is preferably included in the communication request. Inother variations, the communication request is for establishing asynchronous communication session between the source and the destinationsuch as in a voice or video call where communication can occur betweenat least two communication endpoints in real-time. Additionally arequest can include an urgency property, which determines communicationguarantees and TTL (Time to live) procedures of an establishedcommunication.

The communication request is preferably received using an applicationprogramming interface (API). More preferably the communication requestis received through a representational state transfer (REST) API,Restful (i.e., having characteristics of a REST API) can include thecharacteristics of having a uniform interface separating client andservers, the client-server communication is stateless where allinformation to process a client request is transferred in the request;cacheable requests if specified, interoperability with a layered serviceinfrastructure, and/or a uniform interface between clients and servers.The API can be exposed externally such that requests directly originatefrom outside entities. The API can alternatively be an internal API usedduring operation of the telephony platform.

Alternatively, the communication request input may be an applicationprocessing system, wherein an instruction in a script or applicationcode triggers an event for acting on communication event. In anothervariation, the communication request input can be an eventing systemcontrolled through a user interface. For example, an account may set upvarious text/media messaging campaigns through an administrator controlpanel.

The communication request can alternatively be received from an incomingcommunication through a supported communication transport protocol.Preferably the communication platform acts as a proxy or register for anumber of endpoints, such that communications initiated outside thecommunication platform and directed at endpoints registered by theplatform are routed to the communication platform for handling. Thecommunication platform can include mappings of endpoints toapplications, other destination endpoints, or use any suitable logic todetermine a content and destination of a communication. Processing ofincoming communications can be used to enable two-way transformation ofcommunications between at least two endpoints.

The plurality of routing options 112 of a preferred embodiment functionsto service communications from the system to at least one destinationendpoint. The plurality or routing options 112 preferably includes a setof different communication services that target different transportprotocols. For example, the plurality of routing options 112 can includean SMS service, MMS service, a push notification service, an IPmessaging service, proprietary third party messaging service, PSTNservice, SIP voice service, video communication service, screensharingservice, fax service, email service, and/or any suitable communicationservice. Each of the communication services can include dedicatedcommunication service instances for different routing options (e.g.,different carriers, regions, and the like). Alternatively, acommunication service can use multiple different routing options whencommunicating. The routing options can be used in transmitting messages,receiving messages, managing synchronous communication sessions, orperforming any suitable operation of a given transport protocol.Depending on the message medium and possibly the origin and destinationendpoints, the routing options may be different channel protocolsdirected at different service provider destinations. For an SMS message,the routing options may be SMPP connections to various service providerdestinations. The routing options of an MMS message can be SMTPconnections to various service provider destinations (for MM4) oralternatively they can be various service resources accessed overHTTP/SOAP (for MM7). A voice call can have routing options includingPSTN channels of different carriers, SIP, and other protocols. Therouting options preferably include various commercial relationshipsbetween the service provider and the communication platform. The routingoptions can additionally span multiple mediums/transport protocols. Forexample, a message router may be configured to selectively transmit amessage using a routing option selected from SMS routing options,proprietary push notification routing options (e.g., Apple or Googlepush notifications) and application messaging routing options (e.g.,message sent to a Whatsapp user).

The content conversion engine 114 of a preferred embodiment functions totransform content. In one variation, the content conversion engine 114transforms content from a first form suitable for a first protocol to asecond form suitable for a second form. In another variation, thecontent conversion engine 114 transforms content to otherwise satisfythe constraints associated with communication intent. For example, thecontent conversion engine 114 can convert resource links into trackableresource links in coordination with the resource tracking system 130.The content conversion engine can include various media processingservices, routines, and modules. The content conversion engine 114 canbe a standalone service of a platform or alternatively integrated withina variety of other components such as the various routing optionservices 112. The content conversion engine 114 can include variousmedia processing components such as a media transcoding engine,text-to-speech (TTS) service, speech recognition engine, and othersuitable media processing services. The content conversion engine 114can additionally include content formatting services that ensure contentis suitable for communication over a selected routing option. Differentrouting options can have different rules such as character limits, mediasize limits, metadata information, security tokens, and other suitablecommunication properties. The formatting services can translate contentto a format suitable for a message. For example, text content mayrequire being split in to multiple messages for delivery over SMS. Thecontent conversion engine 114 can transform content media prior todelivery to a destination. For asynchronous messages, the media istransformed and then transmitted. In synchronous communication, thecontent conversion engine 114 could stream the converted media contentsuch as down sampling an inbound audio stream and routing to an endpointwith a communication channel with lower bandwidth. In another variation,the content conversion engine may convert asynchronous communication togenerated media played during a synchronous communication session. Forexample, a first user may carry on a text message based chat with aperson listening to a phone call, where the text messages of the firstuser are converted using a text to speech service and responses of auser are presented as audio media messages or transcribed responses.Such transformations can be performed to fulfill different constraintsexpressed in the communication intent parameters. In one variation, anasynchronous message such as a text, picture, or video message may beconverted to a message delivered over a voice or live video chat sessionas a way of verifying receipt of the message. For example, a textmessage can be converted to speech audio played during the call. Sincethe system may not be able to verify you saw a text message, reading thetext message may ensure the message was delivered and possibly heard bythe user. Additionally, the system can expose the extent of messagedelivery during the synchronous delivery of the communication. Forexample, if a user hangs up half way through the audio, the message is50% received by the user.

The routing system 120 functions to generate at least one possiblerouting option for the outbound routing of the communication service110. The routing system 120 receives routing requests from thecommunication system 110. The routing system 120 is configured toprocess the request and use properties of the request to generate atleast one selected/recommended routing option. More preferably therouting system generates a set of at least two routing options andreturns the list to the communication system 110. The set or list ofrouting options can be prioritized or include parameters that can beused to select a desired routing option. The routing system 120preferably includes a routing table. The routing table includes a listof available routing option profiles 122. In one variation, a routingoption profile in the routing table preferably includes an assignedpriority and a weight. The priority and weight may be assigned fordifferent communication parameters. For example, the prefix of adestination phone number is preferably associated with various routingoptions each having a priority and weight. The routing table can includeadditionally or alternative parameters associated with the differentrouting options such as quality score, regional associations (e.g.,related country codes or area codes or geographic proximity), quotaprioritizations, internal cost (e.g., cost to the platform), effectiveinternal cost (e.g., cost to transmit requested content consideringtransforming the content into multiple messages), and/or any suitableparameter used in selecting a routing option. The quota prioritizationparameter can be used to prioritize a routing option in response to acontractual obligation. Some routing options can be maintained throughcontractual obligations of meeting a quota of communications (e.g.,number of calls, number of messages, rate of communication). This quotaprioritization parameter can be dynamically updated or fixed based onthe communication restriction. The quota prioritization can be used topositively count towards the selection of that routing option (e.g., ifa system wants to meet a certain quota of messages) or alternativelynegative impact selection (e.g., if a system wants to avoid going over alimit). The relative properties for the associated routing options areused to generate a route priority list. The routing priority list is acustomized list of routing options prioritized for a particularcommunication request. Multiple routing options are prioritized in orderof preference. The listed routing options may not have indicatedpreference and be a sub-set of the full set of routing options.

The routing option profiles 122 functions to characterize differentchannels of communication available to the communication platform. Asmentioned above, a routing option can exist for large variety oftransport protocols such as the communication protocols for SMSmessaging, MMS messaging, push notifications, an IP messaging,proprietary third party messaging, PSTN voice, SIP voice, videocommunication service, screensharing, faxing, email, and/or any suitablecommunication protocol. The routing options can include parameters thatcan be used in selecting a routing option based on content type and/orurgency properties. When translating between different modes ofcommunication, the different transport protocols can have differentprioritization. For example, media messaging is preferably sent througha routing option with similar media support. The routing system 120 mayadditionally include a routing table interface such that anadministrator or client device may update the parameters used todetermine the communication routing. Routing options can preferably beadded, removed, or updated. In one exemplary use case, an administratormay need to update the routing options based on contract changes withvarious carriers. In another exemplary use case, communicationperformance may unexpectedly drop for a carrier. An administrator couldeasily edit the routing table such that communications avoid thatcarrier until the issue is resolved. In yet another use case,communication quality of a used routing option is measured and used toupdate a quality parameter of a routing option. In another variation,the routing table interface is an application programming interface(API) such that parameters of the routing table may be automaticallyupdated.

The resource access tracking system 130 functions to facilitate runningcommunication campaigns that depend on resource links. The resourceaccess tracking system functions to automatically create trackablecommunication campaigns. The resource access tracking system 130 ispreferably invoked when media, applications, and/or website accessshould be tracked. The resource access tracking system preferablycreates unique tracking resource links for a given communication andresource in that communication. The resources access tracking system 130is preferably used to simplify generation of a messaging campaign. Inone use case, an account holder will want to transmit a message with apromotional URI in the message body to a set of different endpoints. Thecontent conversion engine 114 preferably detects the URI and cooperateswith the resource access tracking system 130 to generate a unique URIfor each message transmitted in the campaign as shown in FIG. 3. When auser accesses the link, the tracking link will detect the access,optionally collect information about the accessing device, and thenredirect to the originally intended resource. The resource accesstracking system 130 preferably creates some interface through whichaccess information is exposed. In one variation, a campaign controlpanel can present various statistics about the access rates, whichendpoints actually accessed the resource, device information about thosethat accessed, and other suitable information. In one variation, a URIis converted to a trackable URI as shown in FIG. 4. In anothervariation, a media resource is converted to a hosted media resourceaccessible at or through a trackable URI. In another variation, anapplication referenced through an application URI protocol is changedfor a web-based trackable URI that redirects to the application URI.

The resource access tracking system 130 may additionally be used to setdynamic message tailoring through various data driven communicationoptimization. In one variation, communication intent may include a setof optional content. The resource access tracking system 130 mayfacilitate evaluating access of different message options and thenautomatically selecting more successful message options. For example,A/B testing within a set of options may allow later transmissions in thecampaign to use message options vetted through A/B evaluation.

The origin transmission balance system 140 functions to coordinatedistributing communications across multiple origin identifiers. Asmentioned above some forms of communication have communication rate andcap limits. For example, long codes and short codes both have limits ontotal number of messages per day and the inter-message transmissionrate. Violating such limits may result in communication failure for thator subsequent communications. The origin transmission balance system canpreferably automatically plan and schedule when and from what endpointscommunications will be sent as shown in FIG. 5. The origin transmissionbalance system 140 can additionally include heuristics that account forregional proximity between origin identifiers and destinationidentifiers. For example, local origin identifiers may be preferred overout of area phone numbers or phone numbers with different country codes.The origin transmission balance system 140 may additionally facilitateallocating communication endpoints to better fulfill a communicationrequest.

2. Method for Enabling Dynamic Multi-Modal Communication

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a method for enabling dynamic multi-modalcommunication of a preferred embodiment can include maintaining routingoptions of at least two transport protocols S110, receiving acommunication request S120, selecting routing option S130, transformingcontent of communication request to compatible form of the selectedrouting option S140, and transmitting transformed content to adestination endpoint on the selected routing option S150. The methodfunctions to normalize communication to be automatically communicatedaccording to communication intent. The method functions to simplify sendof a message by abstracting the complexity of sending a message in afractured and complex communication environment.

The method can be used in transmitting an outbound communication, but,in one variation, may be implemented in two communicationconversations/sessions so that responses to communications are similarlytransformed to an appropriate transport protocol. The method ispreferably used to unify communication across a plurality ofcommunication protocols. Some exemplary communication transportprotocols can include SMS, MMS, Fax, email, IP messaging, pushnotifications, PSTN voice, SIP voice, SIP video, IP based synchronouscommunication, and/or any suitable form of communication. As shown inFIG. 6, the method can be applied to asynchronous communication, but themethod can additionally or alternatively be applied to asynchronouscommunication as shown in FIG. 7 or a hybrid of synchronous andasynchronous transport protocols. In addition to unifying modes ofcommunication, the method can unify different destination endpoints of auser.

In one implementation, the method is used by developers, applications,and services to express communication intentions, such as intendedcontent of a message, intended mode of a communication session,communication constraints such as timing, budget, and other suitableintent parameters. For example, an application can specify an image andtext that should be delivered to an endpoint. The method operates todeliver the content of the intended media, possibly transforming thefinal delivered format to conform to an appropriate mode ofcommunication with the destination.

While the method can be applied to the delivery of a singlecommunication to a single destination entity, the method is morepreferably applied to executing outbound communication campaigns whereinan account, application, or service expresses intent to deliver one ormore communications to a set of destination endpoints. In this preferredembodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the method more preferably includesapplying the method iteratively to a set of destination entitiesindicated in the original request, which would include receiving amessaging request that includes communication intent parameters and aset of communication destinations S122 and dynamically transformingmessage transmissions to the communication destinations according toindividual communication destinations S200, wherein block S200 includesfor each communication destination in the set of destinations: selectinga communication mode according to the communication intent parametersS230, transforming content of communication request S240, andtransmitting transformed content to a destination endpoint in theselected communication mode S250. The method functions to handleexpressing communication intent for a plurality of destinations, andthen having a communication system automatically execute thosecommunications. The method can handle differing device capabilitiesand/or preferences, various communication message formats. Numerousentities use mass-recipient messaging campaigns, sending SMS or MMSmessages with links, promotional offers, or media.

In some cases, such campaigns may have various constraints. Acommunication request can specify a time-to-live constrain, which canact to define a set time window in which the message is relevant. Themethod can manage transmission of the plurality of messages such as tosatisfy the TTL requirement or fulfill the TTL requirement in anappropriate manner (reporting which numbers were not contacted due to aTTL failure). As described more below, the time constraint mayadditionally be used to impact the selection and/or allocation oforiginating phone numbers as shown in FIG. 9. Additionally, phone numbermanagement may be performed independent of communication contentaugmentation, but may additionally be performed with communicationmodality and content transformation. In one example, the phone numbermanagement is applied to communications that are delivered withunaltered content and are fixed to an SMS communication mode. In anotherexample, the phone number management is applied to communications thatmay be selectively sent over different routing options and may or maynot receive content transformation.

In another variation, a communication request can specify a confirmationconstraint where the sender wants feedback on delivery. As describedbelow, this may be implemented through use of a tracking linktransformation process which can be used to transform telephony messagesto individually trackable communications based on interactions withmedia, application, or website links as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. Thetrackable link variation functions to enable simple communication intentto provide full cycle tracking of interaction with a communication for aset of different destinations. An account operator is alleviated ofcreating specialized links, tracking those links, and determining howthose results are impacted by the communication. The trackableinteractions may further be used in messaging campaigns to createcontent optimization through A/B testing and other data driven analysisand customization of a message. The tracking link transformation processmay be used independently or in combination with other method variationssuch as the phone number management variation.

Block S110, which includes maintaining routing options of at least twotransport protocols, functions to manage at least two different modes ofcommunication. The modes of communication are preferably divided intomultiple routing options. The routing options can include differenttransport protocols, but can additionally include different carriers,suppliers of a communication channel, regional routing options of atransport protocol, or any suitable route variation. Informationrelating to the routing options can be stored in a table or database ofrouting option profiles. The routing option profiles can be used inselecting preferred, optimal, or otherwise capable routing options whencommunicating. The routing options can additionally include differentoriginating identifiers. The originating identifiers are different typesof phone numbers (e.g., short codes, long codes, toll-free numbers,etc.). The originating identifiers can additionally include usernamesand user IDs for such communication options such as IP messaging. Agiven entity can have a set of originating identifier options. An entityof the communication platform can be an account, sub-account,application, service, or other suitable entity scope. An entity canpreferably be substantially permanently allocated one or moreoriginating identifier. An entity may additionally be allocated atemporary originating endpoint or a shared/communal originatingendpoint. For example, an account can have a set of fifty differentpossible originating phone numbers across a variety of country codes andarea codes. As described below in the phone management variation, thedifferent originating identifiers additionally provide other routingoptions.

Block S120, which includes receiving a communication request, functionsto obtain an instruction for sending or establishing an outboundcommunication. The communication request is preferably received at acommunication service, which can be a server or machine that establishesa communication or at least direct a secondary service to establish acommunication. The communication service may be specifically configuredfor a particular medium or mode of communication such as Public SwitchTelephone Network (PSTN) calls, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) voiceor video calls, Short Message Service (SMS) messages, MultimediaMessaging Service (MMS) messages, IP based messaging, pushnotifications, proprietary communication protocols, and/or any suitablecommunication medium. The communication service may be used for aplurality of communication mediums. A communication request ispreferably associated with some form of entity or account, which canhave an authentication process to verify that the request is legitimate.Additionally, an account or other suitable entity may have a permissionspolicy that can regulate the type and manner of communication requests.

A communication request can include communication properties, which caninclude at least one destination endpoint, optionally one or moreoriginating endpoints, communication content, and/or other properties ofthe communication. The communication request can additionally definecontrol directives as constraint properties such as, TTL constraints,receipt confirmation activation, feedback confirmation activation,communication mode restrictions, a max price parameter, a quality limit,and/or other properties used to gate or control communication.

The combination of properties defined in the communication requestpreferably defines communication intent expressed through a singlemessage request. As opposed to specific communication instructions(e.g., send a SMS message to this endpoint originating from thisendpoint and then send a second SMS message to this other endpoint atthis endpoint at a later instance), the communication request caninclude intended communication content that indicates generalizedobjectives of the communication. In the diverse communication field,there are a wide variety of limitations and restrictions depending onthe mode of communication, the particular telecommunication scarier,geographic region, content, and other features. A request ofcommunication intent includes the high-level objective and istransformed into an executed process that automatically negotiates thechallenges of fulfilling such a request.

The intended communication content can specify raw message content ormedium of communication. In the case of asynchronous communication, therequest of communication intent can include content intended fordelivery and the intended destination entity. The final form of thecontent, whether the transmitted content is text, a graphic, a video, alink to an external resource, an audio message, and/or any suitablemedium is not exclusively determined through the request as long as thecontent is delivered. Similarly, the exact destination endpoint may notbe strictly defined as long as the message is delivered to the intendedentity. In the case of synchronous communication, the mode ofcommunication can similarly be generalized. The communication requestcan include a specified mode of communication, which can place limits onthe suitable routing options. The possible modes can include a voicesession mode (where synchronous audio should be transmitted between atleast two endpoints), a video session mode (where video and/or audioshould be transmitted between at least two endpoints), and synchronousmessage transmission mode (where text, images, videos, and/or othermedia can be delivered to a destination). A voice session mode canresult in a voice session (e.g., PSTN or SIP based), a video sessionwith only audio, or any synchronous form of communication through whichaudio can be transmitted. A video session can be a video session oralternatively downgraded to just audio. An asynchronous messagetransmission mode can result in any executed communication thattransmits desired content. Synchronous communication mediums cansimilarly be used when in an asynchronous message transmission mode.

Upon receiving a communication request, at least a subset of informationfrom the communication request is sent to the routing service.Preferably, the subset of information sent to the routing service issent in the form of a routing request. The subset of informationincludes communication properties specified in the communication requestof block S110. Additionally, at least a subset of information from thecommunication request may be sent to a communication cost service.Preferably, the subset of information is sent to the communication costservice in the form of a cost request. The routing request and the costrequest preferably include at least the destination of thecommunication. The routing request and/or cost request may additionallyor alternatively include content of the communication, accountinformation for the entity sending the communication request, theoriginating endpoint, the mode or medium of communication, and/or anysuitable information. The routing request and the cost request arepreferably sent in parallel but may alternatively be sent sequentiallyor in any suitable manner. The routing request and the cost request canbe independent in that how a communication is routed and the attributedcosts of that communication do not directly rely on each other. Oneexpected benefit is that the quality of communication can be increasedwhile simulating a simplified cost model to user accounts. As describedbelow, a maximum cost parameter specified in a communication request canbe accommodated after initially fulfilling the requests.

In one variation, the communication properties include a specifiedtransport mode of communication. The specified transport mode can be aset of modes of communication permitted and/or blocked for thecommunication request. The set of operational transport modes caninclude a synchronous voice session mode of communication, a synchronousvideo session mode of communication, an asynchronous messagetransmission mode of communication and/or specific permitted/prohibitedtransport protocols (e.g., SMS, MMS, push, etc.). A specified transportmode can restrict, modify, or otherwise impact the selection of routingoptions.

In the communication campaign variation, Block S120 can includereceiving a messaging request that includes communication intentparameters and a set of communication destinations S122. The set ofcommunication destinations may be defined as abstract destinationentities, which are then mapped to a destination endpoint depending onthe selected communication routing option. For example, the destinationendpoint could be a username, which may have a telephony numberassociated with SMS, MMS, and voice routing options and an usernameassociated with an IP messaging service. However, the set ofcommunication destinations more commonly will be a defined set of phonenumbers. A communication request with a set of destination phone numberswill preferably have the communication content (or some suitabletransformed form of the communication content) delivered to that set ofdestination phone numbers. Companies wanting to talk to a large numberof people at once with a generic message or media can use expresscorresponding intent in the request.

Block S130, which includes selecting routing option, functions todetermine a routing option of a communication. The communication requestis preferably processed through a sequence of heuristics that can beused to select appropriate routing option. Selecting a routing optioncan include identifying one or more routing options capable ofcompleting the communication request and identified according to apriority heuristic. In one variation, a single routing option isselected. In an alternative embodiment, a priority list of routingoptions is generated, and a routing option is selected from the list.The routing option is more specifically capable of completing thecommunication to a communication endpoint mapped to the specifieddestination endpoint. The specified endpoint may not be the receivingendpoint. A secondary endpoint associated with the specified endpointmay be targeted. For example, if a phone number is specified, but IPbased messaging is instead used to communication with a usernameendpoint, wherein the user of the phone number operates the usernameendpoint. In the variation where the set of routing options is limitedto a single communication protocol, Block S130 may be optional or usedin selecting specific routing options within that single communicationprotocol such as which telecommunications carrier to use.

In querying routing options, the intended communication content can beanalyzed to identify suitable transport protocols. The routing optionsof suitable transport protocols can then be filtered accordingdestination endpoint and intended content and/or intended mode ofcommunication. A destination can be identified as including anassociated carrier, a country/regional location property, and/or devicecapabilities. Routing options having been reduced to routings optionscapable of communication intended content and capable of delivering tothe intended destination can then be further filtered according toavailability. Some routing options can be suffering from down time orquality issues at any given time—such routing options are preferably notconsidered for selection.

Selection heuristics can consider many factors. The heuristics canconsider content and mode of communication of a routing option,reliability of a routing option, feature capability of a routing option,urgency compliant features, price of communication, user presenceinformation, user preference of communication, user history ofcommunication, originating endpoint communication limits, and/or anysuitable factor that impacts an appropriate routing option.

A first heuristic can give weight to a routing option based on theinvolved content transformations. Different transport protocols can begiven different preference depending on the original form of content.For example, sending a text message would give preference to a routingoption involving an SMS with text over a routing option involvingtransforming the text to text-to-speech audio and playing over a PSTNphone call. The medium of intended content is preferably preserved, butthe medium of content can be transformed depending on available routingoptions and/or other heuristic priorities.

A second heuristic can give weight to routing options according toquality scores, reliability, communication confirmation, and othersuitable reliability and urgency compliance features. In one variation,a communication request can be accompanied by a TTL limit. The TTL limitcan define a time window in which a message is delivered. Differentrouting options can have varying time to delivery predictions, and therouting option can be selected to satisfy the TTL restriction. In onevariation, the TTL may be acted upon by selecting a routing option thatbetter fulfills the TTL time restriction. In another variation, the TTLis used to select the originating identifier and scheduling oftransmissions. SMS and MMS messaging have limits on the number of uniquerecipients in a day for a given phone number. SMS and MMS messagingadditionally have limits on the messaging throughput rate (e.g., numberof messages per second). If an account were to try to send a thousandmessages in thirty minutes from a single number, most of thosecommunications would fail due to limiting of communication.

Additionally, a communication request can include different confirmationrequirements. A request may specify that an acknowledgment confirm themessage was transmitted successfully or similarly that the message wasread by the end user. Different transport protocols will have varyingcapabilities or mechanisms to provide such verification oracknowledgment. If a requested feature is not supported by a routingoption, that routing option may not be considered. Similarly, the typeof selected routing option may determine the type of contenttransformation to complete the confirmation. For example, sending an SMSor MMS message with interaction feedback may result in conversion of alink and/or a media file into a tracking link.

A third heuristic can give weight to routing options that have notsatisfied a communication quota or contractual obligation. A quota canbe set for a time frame, and a routing option has the target ofsatisfying the quota in that time frame. For example, an SMS routingoption can have a quota of five thousand messages in a month. Selectionof a routing option within a priority list or prioritization within thelist can be based on satisfying the quota. For example, a routing optionfurther from a quota can be prioritized above a routing option that hassatisfied a quota, surpassed a quota, or does not include a quota.Additionally, a quota can be weighted to indicate importance of thequota. For example, some routing options may have a more important quotagoal (e.g., a routing option will be cancelled by a carrier), and otherrouting options may have less important quota goal (e.g., specialdiscounting pricing isn't provided if not satisfied). Various rules andproperties can be encoded into a routing option to facilitate relativeprioritization/selection of routing options. One exemplary use of aquota includes a routing option using a particular network carrier thatwas negotiated at an internal cost rate that has a minimum number ofcommunications that should be met. Another exemplary use of a quota mayinclude regulating a routing option with a rate limit of SMS messagessent in a minute allowed over a network carrier of a second routingoption.

A fourth heuristic can give weight to routing options with lowerinternal cost (e.g., payment to outside partners and/or operationalcost). A related heuristic can include calculating effective internalcost of a routing option. The effective internal cost is the predictedcost to the communication cost to the platform. In some cases,communicating over a first transport protocol has differentcommunication limits compared to a second transport protocol and as aresult a routing option of the first transport protocol may requiretransmitting the intended content in one form (e.g., in a singlemessage) and the routing option of the second transport protocol mayrequire transmitting the intended content in a second form (e.g., splitinto two or more messages). The effective internal cost can be thenumber of messages to transmit the intended content multiplied by theinternal cost of an individual message transmitted on the routingoption. The cost can be a financial cost and is frequently dependent onthe specific routing option. The difference between the communicationcost and the effective internal cost can be the profit of the platformfor an individual communication. The priority heuristic is preferably inplace to increase profits across a plurality of communications.

A fifth heuristic can give weight to routing options with particularfeature capabilities (e.g., message confirmation, no message sizerestrictions, multimedia support). A feature heuristic can be enforcedif specified content specifies a desired delivered format.

A sixth heuristic can consider presence information of the destination.A presence service can be integrated into the platform and provideavailability of a user across multiple devices and/or protocols. Forexample, a user may be accessible through a phone voice session, SMS andMMS on the phone, push notifications on the phone, and through an IPprotocol of an application on a second browser device. Presenceinformation can indicate if any of those channels are active,prioritization/preference of the channels.

A seventh heuristic can consider communication history and/ordestination preference. Preference of a destination can be inferred fromcommunication. Modes of communication used to initiate outboundcommunication from an endpoint can be considered indicators of userpreference. Alternatively, a user profile can be configured withprioritization of endpoints and/or protocols.

These factors and other suitable prioritization factors can be combinedin any suitable manner to form a prioritization heuristic used inranking routing options.

Block S140, which includes transforming content of the communicationrequest to a compatible form of the selected routing option, functionsto convert media content of the communication to a format suitable fortransmitting. In asynchronous communication, the content is convertedand then transmitted to the destination. In synchronous communication,the content can be transcoded and streamed to a destination such thatthe content/medium is generated in substantially real-time with thecommunication session. The form of the transformation is determinedbased on the originating format of the communication content and theselected routing option. If the routing option is the same as theoriginating transport protocol, transformation of content may beskipped. Transformation can include translating to a text form,generating a URI link to the content, replacing a URI or media file witha tracking URI, generating an audio version of the content, generating avideo version of the content, satisfying protocol restrictions (e.g.,character limits, file size limits, encoding, and the like), segmentinginto multiple messages, grouping multiple content into a single object,supplying unspecified metadata, and/or making any suitabletransformation. Exemplary transformations may include SMS to MMS, MMS toSMS, SMS/MMS to IP push/proprietary IP/client application, SMS/MMS toemail/fax, fax/email to SMS/MMS, IP messaging to SMS/MMS, Voice to SMS,Voice to MMS, SMS to voice, Voice to video, Video to voice, and/or anysuitable form of transformation.

Block S150, which includes transmitting content to a destinationendpoint on the selected routing option, functions to establish orexecute the communication. The communication is preferably implementedon the selected routing option using the transformed content. In somevariations, communication confirmation of delivery or of reading can berequested. The delivery and reading request can be fulfilled through thetransport protocol of the selected routing option. As shown in FIG. 11,an urgency parameter can specify that a receipt acknowledgment be made.Subsequent communications in asynchronous and synchronous forms ofcommunication can be processed to select an appropriate routing option,optionally using communication history to influence routing optionselection. In asynchronous communication (e.g., messaging), responsescan be received from the delivery endpoint. A similar process can beinvoked to determine the route used to deliver the response as shown inFIG. 11, but alternatively, a routing option of the communication thatprompted the initial communication response can be used. In synchronouscommunication, the destination endpoint can be bridged with theoriginating endpoint.

As shown in FIG. 13, the method can be similarly applied to responsesfrom a destination endpoint. In this variation, an incomingcommunication is interpreted as a communication request. Accordingly,the method can translate between one or more communication modes.

As shown in FIG. 8, the method of applying communication intent to acommunication campaign of a set of destinations preferably includesdynamically transforming message transmissions to the communicationdestinations according to individual communication destinations S200.Block S200 functions to iteratively execute dynamic multi-modalcommunication as described above for Blocks S130, S140, and S150 whereinthose processes are applied to a set of phone numbers. Block S200 may beused to dynamically transform message transmissions in parallel, inseries, according to a coordinated schedule, or in any suitable manner.Block S200 preferably includes for each communication destination in theset of destinations: selecting a communication mode according to thecommunication intent parameters S230, transforming content ofcommunication request S240, and transmitting transformed content to adestination endpoint in the selected communication mode S250. BlockS230, S240, and S250 can be substantially similar to Blocks S130, S140,and S150 respectively but may additionally or alternatively include thevariations described below. When processing a communication campaign,Block S200 preferably employs the origin identifier selection process asdescribed herein to balance across multiple origin endpoints and/orachieve targeted origin proximity to a destination endpoint. Block S200may additionally include or be applied towards tracking communicationinteractions through trackable URIs.

Block S230, which includes selecting a communication mode according tothe communication intent parameters, functions to select how eachtransmitted communication is communicated. Each destination endpoint mayhave different capabilities. The method may include querying an endpointinformation service to determine the set of capabilities, preferences,history, and other suitable factors that can impact communicating with adestination. As one aspect, the communication mode can include selectingthe origin identifier of an account used as the calling entity for atransmission. When executing a telephony campaign, some endpoints mayhave communication mode of MMS, another subset will be assigned acommunication mode of SMS, and still another subset may be assigned acommunication mode of IP messaging. Selecting a communication mode mayuse any of the heuristics described above.

Block S240, which includes transforming content of communicationrequest, functions to transform the content. As described above, thismay depend on the selected communication mode, which is furtherdependent on the destination endpoint. As with the communication mode,the form of transformation can be customized for each destinationendpoint. The actual form of content between two destination endpointsmay be different. For example, one may receive actual image contentwhile another receives a link to a hosted image. However, the objectiveof the communication request is preferably achieved in both bycommunicating the image to the end user. Transforming content ofcommunication request may include transforming communication content toinclude a trackable link to monitor and report on interactions with thecommunication. A trackable link is preferably a URI, URL or any suitableresource reference that routes access to a controlled resource of thecommunication platform (or another cooperative resource). The controlledresource preferably monitors access and provides access to desiredcontent. The trackable link can be in the form of a URL shorteningservice automatically or electively invoked on links in a communication.The trackable link can be a redirection link for a URL, where a userinitially accesses the trackable URI, the access is recorded, and thenthe user is redirected to the original URI. The trackable link canadditionally be used for media files or application references. Whenaccessing a trackable link of an image, the image may be hosted by thecommunication platform at the trackable link.

Block S250, which includes transmitting transformed content to adestination endpoint in the selected communication mode, functions totransmit each customized communication to the destination. Transmittingthe transformed content for each destination endpoint will result in thetransmission of a set of communications. The transmissions can beperformed in series, parallel, and/or at any suitable intervals.Preferably the transmission schedule is determined based on the phonenumber selection process.

As shown in FIG. 9, the method may include balancing transmissionsacross a set of origin identifiers S300, which functions to distribute aset of communications across multiple origin endpoints of an account (orapplication, service, or other suitable entity scope). More practically,the method variation of S300 functions to abstract away thecomplications of dealing with communication volume limits and to usemultiple communication endpoints to achieve message volume within adefined time window. The origin identifiers are preferablytelecommunication endpoints and more specifically phone numbers. Thephone numbers are preferably allocated to an account but at least asubset may alternatively be temporarily allocated to the account orshared between with one or more distinct accounts. Balancingtransmissions across a set of origin identifiers may include detecting acondition for transmitting across multiple endpoints S310, allocatingoriginating endpoints S320, selecting originating endpoints from whichto transmit the set of communications S330, scheduling transmissionsacross the selected originating endpoints S340, and/or transmitting thecommunications according to a schedule of transmissions S350.

Block S310, which includes detecting a condition for transmitting acrossmultiple endpoints, functions to determine the conditions for balancingtransmissions across multiple origin endpoints. Multiple endpoints areused when multiple messages need to be sent and there is some implicitor explicit expectation of time of communication. Transmitting acrossmultiple endpoints is preferably performed for SMS and MMS messages thathave daily limits on unique recipients and message per second throughputlimit. Detecting a condition for transmitting across multiple endpointscan be automatic. In one situation, the communication platform mayautomatically balance communications across the full set of originendpoints of an account to achieve increased transmission throughput bythe account. Alternatively, the system may default to sending at a ratethat avoids straining the system and does not require allocation of neworigin endpoints (i.e., doesn't violate limits). In the case where anaccount has a single origin endpoint and there is no other constraint,there is no balancing across endpoints and transmissions are executed soas to not strain the system and not violate the messaging limits of thatendpoints.

In another variation, the communication request specifies a set oforigin endpoints. The set of origin endpoints is preferably used, andthe transmission throughput may be based on the number of specifiedorigin endpoints.

In another variation, the communication request specifies a TTL, whichwill set a timing constraint. That timing constraint will set a targetthroughput for communicating with the set of destination endpoints. Insome variations, the number of origin endpoints available to an accountis insufficient to achieve the TTL. If the TTL cannot be achieved BlockS320 may allocate endpoints to the account so that the time constraintcan be satisfied. Detecting a condition for transmitting across multipleendpoints may additionally include detecting number of endpoints tofulfill a timing condition. The number of endpoints may be determinedafter determining the communication mode for the set of destinationendpoints because the mixture of communication modes may change theendpoint number requirements. For example, destination entities reachedover IP messaging can reduce the number of telephone numbers.

Block S320, which includes allocating originating endpoints, functionsto assign use of a phone number to a platform entity as shown in FIGUREto. Allocating originating endpoints is preferably used when the accounthas insufficient origin endpoints to satisfy a constraint (e.g., notenough phone numbers to transmit all the messages in the designated timewindow). Herein accounts are used as the preferred entity, but anendpoint may alternatively be allocated for an application service,sub-account, or other entity. Allocating an originating endpointpreferably assigned or registers an endpoint for that account such thatthe account can make outgoing communications from that endpoint. Thecommunication platform may have a number of endpoints that can beassigned for account usage. Alternatively, endpoints may be ported intothe communication platform and then assigned for account usage. Asallocating endpoints may take some time, such as if endpoints are portedinto the system, then there may be a delay before a communicationcampaign can be executed. However, a communication campaign couldpre-emptively plan or schedule a communication. Alternatively, anaccount could use an interface to pre-emptively set up an account toexecute campaigns. In one example, an account administrator would use aweb portal to setup a “campaign” which may have the destinationendpoints, the time constraints and other factors. It may or may notspecify the communication content. Phone number allocation may be partof the process of setting up a campaign. Once an account has created acampaign model, the account can make a request to send set communicationcontent for that campaign. The request includes the destinationendpoints through a reference to the identifier of the campaign.

In some cases, allocating numbers may require payment for those numbersin which case, allocation may require user approval. In one variation,as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, a campaign resource can be pre-emptivelyconfigured with a set of endpoints and any constraint properties such asTTL time windows where the communication is automatically balanced overmultiple origin endpoints. Pre-emptively creating the campaign resourcemay be used to provide confirmation of allocating new origin endpoints.Once the campaign resource is created, communication requests canspecify the campaign identifier to define the destinations and timing asshown in FIG. 15. In one example, a user sets up a messaging campaignthrough a user interface, before initiating the campaign, the userinterface prompts the user for timing constraints and will show thenumber of phone numbers allocated to satisfy a selected constraint.Approval of the messaging campaign may be dependent on approval orpayment for allocation of new endpoints, as shown in FIG. 14. In anothervariation, the approval is achieved through a programmatic request andresponse model. For example, an application requests a communicationwith a time constraint. The account for the application has insufficientmanaged endpoints to complete the communications in the timeconstraint—an error or warning response is transmitted to theapplication. The application can approve or initiate the allocation ofsufficient endpoints to complete the communication request. In anothervariation, the communication intent will include a budget constraint.The budget constraint may be explicitly set in a parameter of thecommunication request, but may alternatively be expressed throughpre-paid credit in the account. If the budget allows for allocation, thephone numbers may be automatically allocated to the account and thenused in transmission of the communications. The allocation preferencesfor an account may alternatively be set or expressed through anysuitable mechanism.

Block S330, which includes selecting originating endpoints from which totransmit the set of communications, functions to determine the mappingbetween origin endpoints and destination endpoints. An origin endpointcan preferably handle transmitting messages to multiple destinations nogreater than the throughput limit. If the throughput limit for any givenendpoint is 1 message per second and the TTL time constraint is 30minutes then a single origin endpoint can theoretically sendapproximately 1800 messages. Selecting of the originating endpoints caninclude selecting endpoints at least in part based on the regionalrelationship between the originating endpoint and the destinationendpoints as shown in FIG. 16. For example, origin endpoints from thesame country and/or area code of a destination endpoint may beprioritized as a pairing. Selecting an originating endpoint may bepre-planned before beginning transmission, but it may alternatively beon-demand as the set of communications are dequeued from some awaitingtransmission queue. The selection of originating endpoints mayalternatively be executed in any suitable manner.

Block S340, which includes scheduling transmissions across the selectedoriginating endpoints, functions to set the rate or timing oftransmissions. The transmission of messages is preferably distributedover a time window. In some cases, the time window may require executingthe transmissions at an optimized rate, where the origin endpointstransmit the messages at approximately the throughput limit of theendpoints. In other cases, the time window is sufficiently long thatthey can be distributed so as to satisfy but the time window constraintbut without sending them at a maximum speed.

Block S350, which includes transmitting the communications according toa schedule of transmissions, functions to send the communications. Theset of origin endpoints will preferably transmit communications inparallel. But transmission can be choreographed in any suitable manner.

As shown in FIG. 17, the method may include capturing communicationinteractions through trackable links S400, which functions to applycontent transformation within a campaign to monitor impact and resultsof the campaign. Through Block S400, the number of users that accesscontent can at least partially be monitored. Block S400 can be used tocreate a campaign analytics dashboard wherein different communicationcampaigns can be compared. With the data collected through Block S400,an account manager can view data on when and where people interactedwith a communication (e.g., viewed a communication or clicked a link toaccess referenced content). Block S400 may alternatively be used fordata driven optimization of communication campaigns by evaluatingdifferent forms of content and automatically selecting different contentoptions to improve interaction results.

Block S400 preferably includes detecting content to be referencedthrough a link, generating a trackable link, transforming thecommunication content to include the trackable link, detect access ofthe link, record access of the link, present resource of the originallink (either redirecting or rendering a hosted version), and exposingaccess information for the link which may include exposing accessinformation across the set of links (for a given communication request,campaign, account or any suitable scope).

The content to be referenced through a link, such as media, images,video, audio, multimedia, and text, may be removed from thecommunication and instead delivered through the communication as atrackable link. A user will have to access the link to view the media.In another variation, the content is an original URI that forms part ofthe communication content. Other forms of content may be pin codes orother communication portions that can may warrant interaction by a userto access.

The trackable link is preferably a shortened URL but can be any suitableURI. The trackable URI references a resource controlled by thecommunication platform such that accessing the link initially directs anapplication layer request (e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, SPDY, etc.) to thecontrolled resource (e.g., a server of the telecommunications platform).If the trackable URI was a proxy for an original URI, then the trackableURI redirects the application layer request to the original URI. If thetrackable URI is to a media object, that media object may be hosted bythe controlled resource, and the user is not redirected elsewhere.

Capturing communication interactions through trackable links can be usedduring a communication campaign to multiple destination endpoints. Theaccount requesting the communication campaign can provide thecommunication in a base single instance format, and the communicationplatform automatically generates unique trackable links for the set ofdestination endpoints. When applied, a first recipient might receive atext message but with a URI unique to them and a second recipient mightreceive a substantially identical text message but with a second URIthat is unique to the second recipient. Access to the trackable links ismonitored across recipients. Access data exposed to an associatedaccount can include detailed logs of what users access the link andwhen, regional statistics (e.g., click rate based on state), overallstatistics (e.g., conversion rate, etc.), and other suitable analytics.Access data can be exposed as API resources, as information conveyedthrough a user interface, or as a programmatic notification. In onevariation, when a trackable link is accessed, the communication platformdetects the access event and then can issue a callback event to apre-configured callback URI. Preferably an account will pre-emptivelyconfigure a callback URI, which functions as a URI to an outsideresource controlled by the account. The callback URI is preferablyhosted by an application server of the account owner and can beconfigured to perform any suitable action when receiving a callbackcommunication. For example, when a user of a destination clicks atracking link, a server of the communication platform will detect theaccess. The communication platform can then submit an HTTP POST or GETrequest to the configured callback URI (or any suitable applicationlayer protocol communication such as HTTPs or SPDY) along with anysuitable metadata (such as time of access, client information gatheredfrom the access event, etc.). The server of the callback URI can thenperform any suitable logic such as update a database or send anothercommunication to the user.

The system and methods of the preferred embodiment and variationsthereof can be embodied and/or implemented at least in part as a machineconfigured to receive a computer-readable medium storingcomputer-readable instructions. The instructions are preferably executedby computer-executable components preferably integrated with thecommunication system. The computer-readable medium can be stored on anysuitable computer-readable media such as RAMs, ROMs, flash memory,EEPROMs, optical devices (CD or DVD), hard drives, floppy drives, or anysuitable device. The computer-executable component is preferably ageneral or application specific processor, but any suitable dedicatedhardware or hardware/firmware combination device can alternatively oradditionally execute the instructions.

As a person skilled in the art will recognize from the previous detaileddescription and from the figures and claims, modifications and changescan be made to the preferred embodiments of the invention withoutdeparting from the scope of this invention defined in the followingclaims.

As a person skilled in the art will recognize from the previous detaileddescription and from the figures and claims, modifications and changescan be made to the preferred embodiments of the invention withoutdeparting from the scope of this invention defined in the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a request totransmit a message including text and an image to a plurality ofdestination endpoints, the plurality of destination endpoints includingat least a first destination endpoint and a second destination endpoint;generating, based on a routing property defined in the request, aprioritized list of routing options for delivering the message to theplurality of destination endpoints, the routing options being associatedwith different communication services comprising at least two or more ofan SMS service, an MMS service, a push notification service, an IPmessaging service, a video communication service, or an email service,the routing property defining at least one of a quality score and amaximum transmission cost for the routing options associated with thedifferent communication services, the quality score defining a limit ona measured quality level for the routing options associated with thedifferent communication services and the maximum transmission costdefining a maximum cost for transmitting the message using the routingoptions associated with the different communication services; selecting,based on the prioritized listing of routing options and communicationcapabilities of the first destination endpoint, to deliver the messageto the first destination endpoint using a first communication modecorresponding to a first communication service of the differentcommunication services; generating a first version of the message thatis compatible with the first communication mode, the first version ofthe message including the text and the image; selecting, based on theprioritized listing of routing options and communication capabilities ofthe second destination endpoint, to deliver the message to the seconddestination endpoint using a second communication mode corresponding toa second communication service of the different communication services,the second communication mode being different than the firstcommunication mode; generating a second version of the message that iscompatible with the second communication mode, the second version of themessage including the text and the image; causing the first version ofthe message that is compatible with the first communication mode to betransmitted to the first destination endpoint; and causing the secondversion of the message that is compatible with the second communicationmode to be transmitted to the second destination endpoint.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein generating the first version of the message that iscompatible with the first communication mode comprises: converting aresource link into a unique trackable resource link.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first communication mode is a synchronouscommunication mode in which speech audio and/or video representing thetext and the image included in the message are communicated.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first destination endpoint is located ina first geographic region and the second geographic endpoint is locatedin a second geographic region.
 5. The method of claim 4, furthercomprising: selecting a first origin destination to transmit the messageto the first destination endpoint, the first origin destination selectedbased on the first geographic endpoint; and selecting a second origindestination to transmit the message to the second destination endpoint,the second origin destination selected based on the second geographicendpoint, wherein the first version of the message is transmitted to thefirst destination endpoint via the first origin destination and thesecond version of the message is transmitted to the second destinationendpoint via the second origin destination.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the first origin destination is different than the second origindestination.
 7. A system comprising: one or more computer processors;and one or more computer-readable mediums storing instructions that,when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the systemto perform operations comprising: receiving a request to transmit amessage including text and an image to a plurality of destinationendpoints, the plurality of destination endpoints including at least afirst destination endpoint and a second destination endpoint;generating, based on a routing property defined in the request, aprioritized list of routing options for delivering the message to theplurality of destination endpoints, the routing options being associatedwith different communication services comprising at least two or more ofan SMS service, an MMS service, a push notification service, an IPmessaging service, a video communication service, or an email service,the routing property defining at least one of a quality score and amaximum transmission cost for the routing options associated with thedifferent communication services, the quality score defining a limit ona measured quality level for the routing options associated with thedifferent communication services and the maximum transmission costdefining a maximum cost for transmitting the message using the routingoptions associated with the different communication services; selecting,based on the prioritized listing of routing options and communicationcapabilities of the first destination endpoint, to deliver the messageto the first destination endpoint using a first communication modecorresponding to a first communication service of the differentcommunication services; generating a first version of the message thatis compatible with the first communication mode, the first version ofthe message including the text and the image; selecting, based on theprioritized listing of routing options and communication capabilities ofthe second destination endpoint, to deliver the message to the seconddestination endpoint using a second communication mode corresponding toa second communication service of the different communication services,the second communication mode being different than the firstcommunication mode; generating a second version of the message that iscompatible with the second communication mode, the second version of themessage including the text and the image; causing the first version ofthe message that is compatible with the first communication mode to betransmitted to the first destination endpoint; and causing the secondversion of the message that is compatible with the second communicationmode to be transmitted to the second destination endpoint.
 8. The systemof claim 7, wherein generating the first version of the message that iscompatible with the first communication mode comprises: converting aresource link into a unique trackable resource link.
 9. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the first communication mode is a synchronouscommunication mode in which speech audio and/or video representing thetext and the image included in the message are communicated.
 10. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the first destination endpoint is located ina first geographic region and the second geographic endpoint is locatedin a second geographic region.
 11. The system of claim 10, theoperations further comprising: selecting a first origin destination totransmit the message to the first destination endpoint, the first origindestination selected based on the first geographic endpoint; andselecting a second origin destination to transmit the message to thesecond destination endpoint, the second origin destination selectedbased on the second geographic endpoint, wherein the first version ofthe message is transmitted to the first destination endpoint via thefirst origin destination and the second version of the message istransmitted to the second destination endpoint via the second origindestination.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first origindestination is different than the second origin destination.
 13. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, whenexecuted by one or more computer processors of one or more computerdevices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform operationscomprising: receiving a request to transmit a message including text andan image to a plurality of destination endpoints, the plurality ofdestination endpoints including at least a first destination endpointand a second destination endpoint; generating, based on a routingproperty defined in the request, a prioritized list of routing optionsfor delivering the message to the plurality of destination endpoints,the routing options being associated with different communicationservices comprising at least two or more of an SMS service, an MMSservice, a push notification service, an IP messaging service, a videocommunication service, or an email service, the routing propertydefining at least one of a quality score and a maximum transmission costfor the routing options associated with the different communicationservices, the quality score defining a limit on a measured quality levelfor the routing options associated with the different communicationservices and the maximum transmission cost defining a maximum cost fortransmitting the message using the routing options associated with thedifferent communication services; selecting, based on the prioritizedlisting of routing options and communication capabilities of the firstdestination endpoint, to deliver the message to the first destinationendpoint using a first communication mode corresponding to a firstcommunication service of the different communication services;generating a first version of the message that is compatible with thefirst communication mode, the first version of the message including thetext and the image; selecting, based on the prioritized listing ofrouting options and communication capabilities of the second destinationendpoint, to deliver the message to the second destination endpointusing a second communication mode corresponding to a secondcommunication service of the different communication services, thesecond communication mode being different than the first communicationmode; generating a second version of the message that is compatible withthe second communication mode, the second version of the messageincluding the text and the image; causing the first version of themessage that is compatible with the first communication mode to betransmitted to the first destination endpoint; and causing the secondversion of the message that is compatible with the second communicationmode to be transmitted to the second destination endpoint.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein generatingthe first version of the message that is compatible with the firstcommunication mode comprises: converting a resource link into a uniquetrackable resource link.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 13, wherein the first communication mode is a synchronouscommunication mode in which speech audio and/or video representing thetext and the image included in the message are communicated.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the firstdestination endpoint is located in a first geographic region and thesecond geographic endpoint is located in a second geographic region. 17.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, the operationsfurther comprising: selecting a first origin destination to transmit themessage to the first destination endpoint, the first origin destinationselected based on the first geographic endpoint; and selecting a secondorigin destination to transmit the message to the second destinationendpoint, the second origin destination selected based on the secondgeographic endpoint, wherein the first version of the message istransmitted to the first destination endpoint via the first origindestination and the second version of the message is transmitted to thesecond destination endpoint via the second origin destination.